The disclosure pertains to a material comprising at least one nonwoven layer of fibers and to a process to manufacture said material.
Nonwoven materials are used in many industrial applications, such as for example drainage materials, building materials and packaging materials. The nonwoven materials used in industrial applications generally have high tensile strength and high modulus. Nonwovens in industrial applications may be subjected to high local deformations, for example when being used as packaging material around irregular shaped objects or when being moulded into complex three-dimensional shapes. High modulus nonwovens may lack the capability to conform to such high local deformations.
GB 1,192,351 discloses a method for manufacturing a flexible sheet material by forming a mat of crimped continuous filaments wherein the crimped continuous filaments are supplied under tension, subsequently releasing the tension to create interpenetration of the filaments at random in three dimensions, and bonding the filaments together by at least one resinous or elastomeric bonding agent applied in the form of dispersion or a solution.